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Ever wanted to give and Android app as a gift? Unfortunately, this is not supported by the Android Market, so unless you are willing to share your Google Wallet account, you currently can't do this for most apps. Kanji Recognizer and Hanzi Recognizer are however special: it is now possible to buy an upgrade coupon code and give it as a gift.

As of version 2.1, both apps support upgrading via coupon codes, as well as directly through the Android Market. If you just want to upgrade on your own device, the fastest way is to open Settings, and hit 'Upgrade to premium' (as before). After you authorize the payment using the Android Market dialog, all premium features will be enabled within seconds. To get a gift coupon code on the other hand, visit this page, select an app and login with your Google account. Then just enter your email address and press the 'Buy' button. Since payments are handled through Google Wallet, just as on Android, no registration or entering of p…

The app has a new set of action bar icons, consistent across Android versions. The main screen now looks like this:

Version 2.1 also adds support for native Android sharing and a new icon for copying, see the Kanji Recognizer post for details.

Another common feature, that we will present in a bit more detail here, is support for direct export to an Anki deck. Anki is a flashcard application that employs the spaced repetition learning technique which has been proven very effective for vocabulary acquisition. Besides managing your flashcards, Anki automatically decides when to present a particular flashcard based on feedback from the user, thus greatly optimizing the learning experience. Applications are provided for both desktop (Windows/Mac/Linux), mobile (Android/iPhone) and the Web.

The newest version is now available on the Android Market. This release brings a slightly more polished UI, some convenient new features and support for upgrading using coupon codes.

The action bar pattern was introduced in version 2.0 for both tablets and phones, but action item icons depended on the OS version. This release bundles a set of common icons (created with the excellent Android Asset Studio), that should make the look and feel of the app consistent across different devices and Android versions. Here's how the main screen looks like with the new action bar icons:

Kanji Recognizer has supported copying and appending recognized characters to the clipboard for use in other apps since the very first version. However, sending character data to other apps using Android's native sharing functionality was missing. This version (finally) corrects that. You can now send characters (kanji, reading and meaning) to any app that accepts text data. One thing to note is that, whil…